I can’t keep the smile off my face while I watch this hulk of a man soften in front of his mother. He gives her a kiss on her cheek, but never takes his eyes off me.
“What a nice surprise,” she says. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
She has such a kind smile when she turns to face me, I know instantly that I can trust this woman and in turn, any of her offspring. Including this incredibly sexy mountain man who still has a hold on my hand.
“Hi.” I thrust my free hand out. “I’m Mia.”
“Well, hello there, Mia.” She pulls me into a hug and away from her son. “My name is Kimberly but everyone calls me Ma. Welcome to Rock Creek. You must be starving.”
“You think everyone is starving, Ma.”
She ignores him. “Come and sit. I’ll get the two of you a couple of bowls of chili.”
Briggs
This is a bad idea.Everything about this woman is a bad idea. I can feel it like a sixth sense. Yet I can’t stay away from her. Besides, I do want a bowl of chili. And I know better than to argue with my mother. If she wants to feed us, that’s exactly what she’s going to do.
I lead Mia to a booth in the back of the Den and have her sit with her back to the door. It’s best if I keep an eye on anyonecoming and going. The last thing I need is Joey Cartwright looking for round two and taking me off guard.
“Why are you here?” I feel like an asshole the second the question is out of my mouth. I’m not usually such a dick. That’s my older brother Maverick’s role as the grump in the family.
“Sorry.” I try again. “I meant to say, what brings you to Rock Creek, Mia?”
She straightens her shoulders and tosses her hair back while thrusting her tits out in a way that gives me no choice but to stare at them, which I’m sure is exactly what she wants from me. “What makes you think I’m not from around here?”
She’s so full of bravado that I almost laugh, but I catch myself instead. “Honey, I know everyone who is from around here.” I emphasize her choice of words. “And even if I didn’t, it doesn’t take any special sleuthing skills to know that, dressed like that, you are definitely not from anywhere close to here.”
“And what am I dressed like?” She bites the corner of her lip and flutters her long eyelashes at me.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think that I was being punked.
“You are dressed like trouble, honey.” I tilt my head and raise an eyebrow at her. “And if I hadn’t come along to rescue you, that’s exactly what you would have found with Joey Cartwright back there.”
“How do you know I didn’t want?—”
“I’m not even going to let you finish that sentence because you and I both know that’s not the kind of trouble you’re looking for.”
She looks like she’s going to disagree with me, but finally, she closes her plump, glossy lips and swallows hard, the argument over.
We fall into silence for a few minutes, each of us staring, daring the other to speak first. She’s feisty with a spark in hereyes that challenges me to break, and I’m just about to give her what she wants when Ma shows up with the chili.
“Here you go.” She slides two heaping bowls in front of us, and we both sit back. “Now, if there’s anything else I can get you two, you just let me know.”
She gives me a kiss on the top of my head as if I’m a little boy instead of her thirty-six-year-old, six-five son.
Mia doesn’t even bother to hide her giggle.
“He’ll always be my baby boy,” Ma says with a wink before leaving us alone.
“Baby boy, huh?”
I shrug. It is what it is. “I’m the youngest of five brothers.”
“There arefiveof you?”
“Sure are.” I take a scoop of chili and blow on it, watching her over my spoon.
She looks wistful, but just for a moment. “I bet it was nice growing up with so many siblings. It was just me and my brother, and he’s a lot older than me.” I watch while she swirls her spoon in the chili. “In a lot of ways, he’s more like a father to me than anything. Our parents died when I was pretty young.”
